Fist tip - get a few good books about photography. Works great by the fireplace.Second tip - shoot some more and you will find what focal lengths you miss, or if you need faster lenses.

"I have a family, I take pics of them. We go places, I take pictures when I go places. So from a stills perspective, The only thing I have right now is a 60D kit lens and a 7D body and a battery. Looking for a little 'christmas wish list' advice from some 7D owners."

It seems to me that you are thinking of changing camera body but that seems unwise to me. There is nothing wrong with your 7D and you seem to like it, so why change? My advice is to keep it and invest in some lenses, but to stay out of ef-s lenses even though they are great on the 7D. Why? Because you seem unceartain that you will keep shooting with the smaller sensor.

Ok, so for your family portraits; get fast primes. The greatest value is in the 50 /1.8 or /1.4; the 85/1.8 or 100/2 and 28/1.8 or 35 /2 (or sigma 30 /1.4).

For travel photography, stick with your 18-135. It´s quite nice stopped down a bit. I sold a few photos taken with that lens on a 30D just recently.

For landscapes one of the most important pieces of equipment is a tripod. You work stopped down and most lenses are sharp @f/8 - 11 anyway, meaning that you can use your 18-135. So get a tripod.

Start there, then shoot until you can not get further without new gear. By then you will know what gear you need and can start to buy more expensive stuff that you will not replace every 20 months.

That said, the 10-22 is a great great lens (owned it) and from reviews the 17-55 or the 15-85 seems to be very good as well. The 15-85 could be considered a good choise if you want to upgrade your travel/landscape lens and you are going to continue shooting aps-c cameras, but I am not sure it is a good idea since you seem to hesitate on what format you want to be using (aps-c or FF)

Up until last week I was using a 7D and a 60D for all my outdoor/wedding stuff. I'm not 100% pro outside of a commercial studio, I just shoot for friends who are getting married, bands and portraits/modelling shoots.

I sold the 60D last week to basically pay for the down payment on 5Diii

I have loads of lenses but by far my most used were:

17-85mm EF-s28mm 1.8

one on each camera and that was it. at weddings nothing else ever left my bag (apart from 10-22mm for wide building shots or big groups)

I reckon I could comfortably live with them lenses.

I know a lot of people wont agree with the 17-85mm but I've never used the 17-55 but I believe it's a pretty good lens if you can afford it.

And DEFINITELY get a flash gun with a diffuser cap. bounce it off the ceiling indoors, use it at arms length as a fill outdoors to make your pics pop.

#1 get out there and play.... do weird things... this will push your boundaries and teach you how to better use the camera for your needs and will expand your skills.

#2 would be to find a bag/backpack/sling or whatever that fits your style. A comfortable carry makes it more likely that you have the camera with you and that opens up more possibilities.

#3, avoid superzooms. the more zoom range in a lens, the greater the optical trickery and design compromises that are made and the poorer the image is. For instance, the EFS 18-200.... this is one of the worst lenses that Canon makes. A zoom range of 3 to 4x seems to be the way to go.

#4, editing and management software. A lot of people seem to like Lightroom, but if you really want to start with the fancy stuff, get rid of the power lines, add in Uncle Buck from that better photo, you may have to dig deeper and get something like photoshop.

#5, spare battery

#6, Tripod. Light ones are easier to carry, heavy ones stand up to wind better... but whichever way you go make sure it is sturdy. Some tripods can have the head flex 30 degrees while the tips of the legs stay still. There are a lot of really crappy tripods out there.... a lot of people go for Manfrotto and Gitzo. Set one up beside a "store brand" tripod and you will see why.

#7, a rubber band from a head of broccoli.... to fight the evils of lens creep.....

Great advice all. I looked while I was upstairs ... its an 18-135mm EFS lens. That is what came with the 60D. Honestly, when I read some of the other forums it seemed like everyone was steering people toward the 24-105 lens but those were things people were posting for non-7D's.

Do I need a flash? It has a flash ... wasn't sure whether or not I should put flashes on the christmas list.

If you want maximum usefulness from minimum purchases, I would pick the recent design EFS 15-85mm zoom (it's a beauty) and the 430 EX II flash unit.

Learn to use the flash for photographing your family and you will appreciate what it can do. Bouncing off walls and ceilings, or using a diffuser, ..... another world from the inbuilt flash,

ud4steve

When it comes to selecting lenses it comes down to what and where/ when you do the majority of your shooting. I spend a lot of time outdoors so I went with the 17-40 f/4, 70-200 f/4 IS (Which both also add weather sealing, a nice touch when you're in wet, dusty, or other harsh environments), and the 28 f/1.8 for low light. For a camera bag I use the Think Tank Digital Holster 30 and Lens Changer 75. The combination allows me to put the 70-200 in either bag/ pouch. The other benefit of the bags are that they allow you to carry them with the included shoulder strap or on a belt system. Overall they are well made and allow you access to your gear quickly.

The only downside is no extra area for things like your shopping or souvenirs! For those days I use my lowepro fastpack 200. Its smaller but has a large space at the top for random s@%& like a towel or t-shirt etc. Anyway, Its not water resistant at all, which blows. when traveling you really need that.

Thank you so much for this comment! LOL! Made my day. The reality is, whenever we go on vacation somehow because I am already carrying a camera bag I have some sort of gravitational pull which makes anyone around me unload their lip balm, wallets, pin purchases (Disney World!), and the like. Even I fall into the trap because I will see something I want and if it fits try to stuff it in the outside pocket of this microtrekker I have now. lol

Step 1: Remove the rubber band from the broccoli Step 2: This is an optional step - eat the broccoli Step 3: Place the rubber band around the lens barrel so as to stop lens creep

The blue rubber band is half on and half off the zoom ring. It provides friction and keeps the zoom from creeping out when you tilt the camera. The red rubber band means that it is an L class lens.... really....trust me..... That's what the red ring at the end of the lens means.....

And to make matters worse, I committed a terrible crime and took the photo with an iPad....